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    Ampersand Cafe

    3.7 (194 reviews)
    InexpensiveCoffee & Tea, Desserts
    Closed 6:00 am - 4:00 pm
    Updated over 3 months ago

    Ampersand Cafe Photos

    Business Info

    AMPERSAND CAFE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating
    Good for kids
    Good for working

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    Recommended Reviews - Ampersand Cafe

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    Brown Sugar & Vanilla Iced Latte, Banana Foster Affogato, Ham & Bree Lunch Sandwich, and Hawaiian Breakfast Sandwich

    This was a cute stop along our early morning walk, very cozy local shop vibes. The sweetest gals helped us out today, even going as far as to remake my entire drink because I forgot to ask for it iced!

    Julianne G.

    Kind of a shack looking place across from the beach. Cute area to sit outside. Inside is a bit cramped, and they have you order through a door opening and then have you go around to the other door inside to pick up. Not horrible unless its raining, then nope. I first tried their rosewater cardamom latte and asked for it half sweet. It was still a little sweet and I couldn't really taste any cardamom. The second time I went I tried a plain latte with cinnamon on top. It was decent, but their prices are a little hefty. I didn't get any food, but they had some mini donuts at the front that I am thinking should have been tried . Service was okay. Not a long wait for my coffee. They do have some other interesting menu items that would be worth a return visit.

    Grocery Items
    Foodie M.

    Ampersand Café is just an easy win every time. Great coffee, tasty sandwiches, awesome pastries, and they even have little grocery basics like milk when you need it. Super chill vibe, and the fact that they hand out dog treats makes it even better. Honestly the best neighborhood coffee spot on Alki.

    View from inside
    Mel E.

    Good warm mini donuts and coffee on the beach. Also, open when most places closed in the early morning. I will definitely come back.

    Outside dining area
    Vince L.

    Our family and friends made this the meeting place a day after a wedding. It was a good choice as there was many items to choose from for drink and food. The outdoor seating with the bay and beach right across the street was a bonus. We were all waited on fast and headed out to wander the beach while enjoying the last days of visiting and the event. I even stopped back by to get another cup of coffee on our way out from the area. Great local, friendly spot. Use it a lot if you live nearby!

    Delicious chunky crunchy oatmeal cookie!
    Shay K.

    Lovely coffee cafe beachside. Homemade goodies are delicious. Enjoyed couple mini donuts and a crunchy chunky oatmeal cookie. Both yummy. Had regular drip coffee, was hot and good. A lady w 2 dogs had to show me the door to order is in the back or side area... the first door is just for dropping your dishes off or sitting inside. I took my stuff to go and sat across the street beachside! Happy it was open early, I think I arrived around 7am. Definitely drop in here again !

    Iced mocha
    Jean-Charles N.

    Wasn't impressed with the iced mocha I got It was tasting mostly like a cup of milk with ice Service was fine and the indoor area was messy and seats dirty

    Ham + Cheddar Sandwich
    Ali U.

    Cute place right across from the waterfront. The food tasted pretty good, although it isn't quite worth the long wait we experienced. There was a 10-15 minute wait in line just to order, and then a 25 minute wait for the food (2 pretty basic small breakfast sandwiches like the one pictured). It doesn't seem like they're equipped to handle more than a handful of customers at a time (at least not on the day we went). So I'd recommend this place if there's no line to order or if you don't have anywhere to be/don't mind waiting. If there's a line, I'd recommend trying another nearby cafe.

    20oz earl grey/hot water

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    6 years ago

    Great local coffee shop. Wonderful food too. Early on they put covid protocols in place.

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    13 years ago

    Not a great ambience decor etc. the salami sandwich was fantastic and worth every penny.

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    Page 4 of 5

    Ask the Community - Ampersand Cafe

    Does this place close at 5:30 or 7:00? I'm getting 7pm from google.

    They're transitioning to winter hours and close at 6:30.

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    Baiten - Matcha soft serve

    Baiten

    4.5(247 reviews)
    4.5 miCapitol Hill

    Like WOW the quality and flavor profile were amazing!!!! The best soft serve I've had in a whileread more

    Baiten is a small window sweet shop in Capitol Hill. It's attached to Tamari bar and has some of…read moretheir offerings at Tamari bar. If you can find parking in the Cap Hill area I would definitely consider this as an option for a sweet treat. I think the prices are really reasonable considering some of the other options. Staff: 5/5 (nice) Sanitation: 5/5 (clean) Soft serve w/syrups (5/5) I've had most of the syrups that they offer with their vanilla soft serve. The soft serve itself is a really creamy and rich vanilla milk flavor. I would say it's closer to that Asian milk flavor if you know what I mean. I think the hojicha syrup is my favorite out of all the ones I've tried so far. It has a really nice roasty flavor and not something you can find at most other places. The matcha I would say is my second favorite. The flavor of the matcha syrup is definitely lighter compared to the hojicha but still is a nice compliment to the soft serve. The black sesame would be the lowest on my list out of the, all since I felt like the flavor was too nutty like it was a blend of sesame and potentially a nut. Overall I would definitely go back for the hojicha but if you're not into that there's definitely solid options for other flavors.

    Photos
    Baiten - Black sesame

    Black sesame

    Baiten - Black sesame, hojicha, matcha soft serve

    Black sesame, hojicha, matcha soft serve

    Baiten - Black sesame soft serve

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    Black sesame soft serve

    Milk Drunk - Matcha and chocolate

    Milk Drunk

    4.0(502 reviews)
    4.4 miBeacon Hill
    $$

    The Sunday sundae specials are excellent! This one was a caramel banana sundae - it's huge,…read moredefinitely can split with two people. Their fried chicken sandwiches are also excellent and very filling - they are $11-15. The seasonal sandwich right now is the southern bird, which is my favorite. This place was packed on a Wednesday evening, but the line moved quickly since most people were just getting ice cream.

    A restaurant that serves both fried chicken and soft serve is just not something you would expect -…read morebut I found it here. I'll go in the order that I had these. One night, after a dinner nearby, I went here to try the soft serve. It was absolutely phenomenal. The choice of flavors isn't much, but the amount and variety of toppings is awesome. I went with the vanilla and chocolate swirl, with butterscotch hard shell and reese's pieces. Firstly, the texture was so smooth and creamy. It had a great mix of both flavors, and was at the perfect temperature. But the toppings are really what makes this. Hard shell is not something you find often, but being able to break this butterscotch and eat the crunchiness along with the melting ice cream was amazing. The excessive amount of reese's pieces added saltiness and even more texture to the overall thing. It was just wonderful overall. Given that, I was really excited to get the fried chicken sandwich, which I did a week later. Unfortunately, it was really bad. I was just confused at first. How could things have gone so wrong here. I'd heard a lot of good things about the fried chicken sandwich. Yet no amount of online reviews could rescue the reality that was in my hands. The chicken was just awful. There was a ton of breading, practically thicker than the chicken itself. But somehow it just failed to be crunchy - it just felt soggy with every bite. Over-breaded chicken is never a great sign, and the inside was terrible - barely even tasting like chicken. It was super overcooked; no juice at all. The fried chicken piece was also super thin compared to how large the buns were. Just nothing worked on this sandwich at all - including the excessive amount of mayo. It's one of the worst fried chicken sandwiches I've had. Price-wise, the chicken sandwich is actually not too expensive at around $11. The soft serve is about half that, but at a pretty good portion. It's tough for me to come up with an overall rating because the soft serve was so good, followed by a mind-bogglingly bad sandwich. I guess I'd only recommend you come here for dessert. 6.5/10

    Photos
    Milk Drunk - Interior

    Interior

    Milk Drunk - Fries are best when theyre curly

    Fries are best when theyre curly

    Milk Drunk - Kale salad

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    Kale salad

    Indigo Cow - Chocolate wall topping

    Indigo Cow

    4.2(386 reviews)
    6.5 miWallingford
    $$

    I had seen this ice cream is a must try while in Seattle. It sounded unique so I had to try it…read morebefore leaving town. Parking can be a bit of a challenge. I honestly didn't realize this was a window shop. We walked into the neighboring restaurant thinking it was attached. Once we figured out it was outside and a window it was easy to navigate. There was a small line but we were helped pretty quickly. The menu didn't have a lot of options. A few flavors add-ons. I went with the Hokkaido milk flavor because I wanted to see if i could taste the difference. First bite it was really milky tasting but the smoothest creamiest ice cream ive ever eaten. The more you eat the more you start to notice a subtle difference. To me it was unique and very enjoyable. I would definitely want to stop by and try other flavors next time im in town. Being they only have a few locations across the US makes this even more special. Thank you for bringing this one of a kind ice cream to the US for us to experience here.

    This may be the longest line I've seen for ice cream. It took around 40 minutes to actually get to…read morethe front, which is just not something you see often - and this isn't even located in a particularly popular area. Was it worth it? Despite the wait, I have to say yes. This soft serve was incredible. The soft serve on tap is the Japanese-style, with their default flavor being the Hokkaido milk flavor. Having had Hokkaido-style soft serve in Japan earlier this year, I was quite interested to see how it compares. And I'm very happy to say this essentially matches up to the version that I had. This texture is just awesome. It's unbelievably smooth and creamy - feels like there should be another word other than soft to describe how silky tender each scoop feels. It's super light on the sweetness, but strong on the milk flavor. It's the kind of soft serve that makes you think you just ate something healthy. Maybe the one thing keeping this from a higher score is the lack of repeatability. With a very limited menu of flavors and toppings, I don't think I would come back here as I've already tried the reason I was here. But it's still great regardless. Also for 5 bucks, the price is relatively cheap for a kid's size. This really ranks up there as one of the top soft serves in the city. 8.75/10

    Photos
    Indigo Cow - Matcha with MBR

    Matcha with MBR

    Indigo Cow - Milk and Matcha swirl with MBK topping

    Milk and Matcha swirl with MBK topping

    Indigo Cow - Small Swirl Cup with MBR topping

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    Small Swirl Cup with MBR topping

    Ampersand Cafe - coffee - Updated September 2026

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